The issue of whether the party should stick to the 70-year age limit and the two-term cap for executive position holders has of late been hotly debated in the CPN-UML.

Influential party leaders are divided.

However, a proposal to scrap the age bar and term cap was floated at the party’s central secretariat meeting held at the party headquarters Chyasal in Lalitpur on Thursday. UML Vice-chair Bishnu Paudel tabled the proposal to remove the provisions from the party statute.

“The discussion in today’s secretariat meeting was focused on shaping the party’s structure after the upcoming policy convention,” a UML office bearer told the Post following the meeting.

The UML’s eighth general convention, held in 2009 in Butwal, introduced the provision of a two-term limit for leadership positions, while the ninth convention organised in 2014 in Kathmandu set an age limit of 70 years.

However, a secretariat meeting in June, 2023 suspended the 70-year limit.

Such provisions become effective only after their endorsement by the party’s statute convention.

While the party’s student wing recently imposed an age limit of 32 during its general convention, the party leadership has been criticised for not upholding similar provisions—specifically the age cap and the two-term limit—within its own ranks. Despite such criticism raised even during the student convention, the party has now brought forward a proposal to amend these very provisions.

According to a secretariat member, the proposal was introduced during the meeting convened to finalise the agenda for the upcoming Politburo meeting scheduled to start on Friday, and the Central Committee meeting scheduled for Monday. The party is holding its Second National Policy Convention from September 5 to 7 in Lalitpur with a mandate to revise the party statute.

The party’s secretariat meeting, held on June 25, kicked off preparations for its second National Statute Convention.

The meeting had entrusted party chair KP Sharma Oli with presenting the political report, Vice-chair Bishnu Paudel with drafting the statute amendment proposal, and General Secretary Shankar Pokhrel with preparing the organisational proposal.

Vice-chair Paudel, who was tasked by the secretariat with drafting the statute amendment proposal, proposed on Thursday to drop the age and term limits.

Similarly, Paudel has also proposed reducing the number of office bearers from the current 19 to just 11, a party official told the Post.

It proposes removal of the senior vice-chair position; halving the number of vice-chairs to three; and reducing the numbers of three deputy general secretaries to one and seven vice-chairs to five. The proposal also envisions a Central Committee of 199 members.

Another major agenda of the meeting concerned former President Bidya Bhandari’s comeback in the party.

It was the UML’s first secretariat meeting after Bhandari on June 28 announced that she had renewed her membership of the party. The announcement was made amid a function to commemorate the birth anniversary of her late husband, Madan Bhandari, who provided the UML its guiding ideology that helped it work under a multi-party democratic framework.

The proposal to remove both the age limit and the two-term provision comes after former President Bhandari’s remarks that current chair Oli would be ineligible to lead the party under the existing rules.

If the party retains the 70-year age limit and two-term provision, 74-year-old Oli, who is leading the party for the second term now, cannot be a candidate for the party chief in the next general convention. It will directly benefit 64-year-old Bhandari, who returned to the UML apparently eyeing the party’s top post.

The issue of the former President’s return to the party was discussed at the meeting, according to leaders.

According to Secretary Yogesh Bhattarai, party chair and Prime Minister Oli himself had suggested that Bhandari’s reentry in party politics be discussed.

“Chair Oli said that we need to discuss the issue of former President Bhandari. As she has publicly announced her intent to be active in party politics, it has now become a public issue,” Bhattarai told journalists. “Since she has given up all state benefits and formally returned [to the UML], it is now a matter for the party.”

If she is returning to active politics, Bhandari must be given a suitable role and a respectful position, Bhattarai added.

Former UML vice-chair Bhandari was first elected President in 2015. Following the 2017 elections, she was reappointed as the head of state for a second term, a position she held until March 2023.

Oli, in an interview broadcast on Thursday on Dishanirdesh TV, said that Bhandari cannot be given the party’s reins. He argued that Bhandari lacks the necessary experience to lead the UML.

“In the case of former President Bhandari, the party has neither assumed nor decided that she should return to politics. She was away from party activities for many years after leaving party duties,” Oli told Vijay Kumar Panday, the interviewer.

As she lacks the experience of holding an executive position, it is not possible to hand over UML’s leadership to her, Oli added.

He said Bhandari had made her announcement without consulting him, and that the party would soon make an official decision on her fate.

Given Oli’s stance, political experts foresee growing tensions between Oli and Bhandari, who have long been close allies.